| Final Battle (2024) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuring various wrestlers | |||
| Promotion | Ring of Honor | ||
| Date | December 20, 2024 | ||
| City | New York City, New York | ||
| Venue | Hammerstein Ballroom | ||
| Attendance | 1,491[1] | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| Final Battle chronology | |||
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The 2024Final Battle was aprofessional wrestlinglive streaming event produced by American promotionRing of Honor (ROH). It was the 23rdFinal Battle event and took place on December 20, 2024, at theHammerstein Ballroom inNew York City,New York. The event aired exclusively on ROH's streaming service,Honor Club.
Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including four on the Zero Hour pre-show. In the event's final match, which was promoted as part of a double main event,Athena defeatedBillie Starkz to retain theROH Women's World Championship. In the other main event,Chris Jericho defeatedMatt Cardona to retain theROH World Championship. In other prominent matches,Komander defeatedBrian Cage,Willie Mack,Mark Davis,AR Fox andBlake Christian in aSurvival of the Fittest match to become the newROH World Television Champion, Sons of Texas (Sammy Guevara andDustin Rhodes) defeated The Righteous (Vincent andDutch) in aTexas Bullrope match to retain theROH World Tag Team Championship,Lee Moriarty defeatedNigel McGuiness to retain theROH Pure Championship, andJay Lethal defeatedQT Marshall. The event marked the ROH returns ofDanhausen, Nigel McGuiness, andBandido.
Final Battle is aprofessional wrestling event produced by Ring of Honor. First held in 2002, it is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year.[2] It is widely regarded as Ring of Honor's premiere flagship event, similar toWWE'sWrestleMania.[3][4] On November 19, 2024, ROH announced that the 2024 Final Battle would be held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on December 20, and would air exclusively on Honor Club. Once a yearly tradition, this was the first Final Battle event to take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom sinceFinal Battle 2018.[5]
The event featuredprofessional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedvillains,heroes, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[6] Storylines were produced on ROH's weekly seriesROH Honor Club TV exclusively on their streaming serviceHonor Club, on television programs of sister promotionAll Elite Wrestling includingDynamite,Rampage, andCollision, and via promotional videos on both the ROH andAEWYouTube channels.
On the December 5 episode ofROH Wrestling,ROH World ChampionChris Jericho hosted his talk show segment, "TV Time with The Learning Tree," for the first time on ROH to discuss his upcoming title defense at Final Battle. He would dare anyone fromNew York to step up, to whichMatt Cardona would then make a surprise appearance and accept Jericho's challenge for the title at Final Battle.[7]
On the November 14ROH Wrestling, afterROH World Tag Team Champions The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes andSammy Guevara) competed in a match, they were suddenly ambushed by The Righteous (Vincent andDutch), who wielded a bull rope with an attached cowbell. Later in the night, after The Righteous won their match, they cut a promo, declaring they should've been champions long ago and that attacking the champions would force them to get an opportunity. As they are meant to do, they also made their situation with the champions personal; Dutch specifically targeted Rhodes as he recounted training with his fatherDusty Rhodes who Dutch claimed saw more in him than he did Dustin, which is how he came to possess the bull rope.[8] The Righteous continued the mind games over the next few weeks. Soon, on the December 5ROH Wrestling, it was announced that The Sons of Texas would face The Righteous in aTexas Bullrope match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Final Battle.[9]
On the December 5 episode ofROH Wrestling,Jay Lethal appeared in a backstage segment where he was planning a return to ROH one and a half years after his last appearance atDeath Before Dishonor in 2022. He and his associates (Sonjay Dutt,Satnam Singh,Jeff Jarrett, andKaren Jarrett) were then met byQ. T. Marshall, who offered to be Lethal's return opponent, but was shot down as Lethal wanted to wrestle a "bigger name."[10] The following week, Lethal met with ROH Board of Directors memberPaul Wight to discuss his ROH return match only for a furious Marshall to interrupt, leading to a physical altercation. Wight would intervene and decide it would be best that the two would settle differences in the ring, with the match being made official for Final Battle.[11]
At the previous year'sFinal Battle,Athena retained theROH Women's World Championship againstBillie Starkz, the latter's performance getting her back in the former's good graces as her "minion".[12] Starkz would then take to Athena's more underhanded tactics as she and fellow minion, backstage interviewerLexy Nair, assisted Athena in retaining her title atDeath Before Dishonor of 2024.[13] A pay-per-view prior Starkz became the inauguralROH World Women's Television Champion atSupercard of Honor.[14] However, after Starkz lost the television title toRed Velvet at Death Before Dishonor of 2024,[13] the dynamic between Athena, Starkz, and Nair reverted to Athena favoring Nair and looking down on Starkz.[15] On the October 24ROH Wrestling, Athena celebrated becoming the longest-reigning champion of any kind in ROH history, where she again praised Nair and berated Starkz for perceived poor party planning, causing Starkz to walk out on the pair.[16][15] Over a month later on December 12, Athena and Starkz competed in a four-way qualifier for theInternational Women’s Cup atWrestle Dynasty, also involving Velvet andLeyla Hirsch. Initially, Athena demanded Starkz lay down for her, but when that didn't happen, Athena would steal a pin on Velvet from Starkz to win.[17] Afterwards, Athena proclaimed she would skip Final Battle in preparation for Wrestle Dynasty, but a frustrated Starkz, tired of Athena's abuse, challenged her to a rematch for the ROH Women's World Championship at Final Battle. Athena accepted and the match was later made official.[18]
| Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method of elimination | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willie Mack | Brian Cage | Pinned after theTornado Claw | 9:29 |
| 2 | AR Fox | Pinned after anavalanche powerbomb | 13:26 | |
| 3 | Brian Cage (c) | Mark Davis | Pinned after apiledriver | 16:26 |
| 4 | Mark Davis | Blake Christian | Pinned after alow blow | 17:01 |
| 5 | Blake Christian | Komander | Pinned afterCielito Lindo | 25:18 |
| Winner | Komander | — | ||
Final Battle has been the name of the last ROH show of each year since the promotion started in 2002
The ROH athletes put it all on the line at the biggest event of the year. Replays of the iPPV broadcast of "Final Battle 2011" are available here.
Ring of Honor closes out 2012 with the biggest event of the year...